


A Book of Unruly Bodies

by ladyjax



Category: Fast Color (2019)
Genre: Coda, Female Character of Color, Female Characters, Gen, Road Trips, older female character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyjax/pseuds/ladyjax
Summary: Ruth and Lila, on the road to find the future, meet someone with a power all their own.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	A Book of Unruly Bodies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ellen_fremedon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellen_fremedon/gifts).



> The character of Edna Mae Macauley (played by Ellen Burstyn) is from the 1980 film, "Resurrection." In this story, Edna Mae is in a car accident which kills her husband and leaves her with the power to heal. When I looked at the prompts for this story, Edna Mae came roaring back in my consciousness insisting that her power is another branch of the same tree as Ruth, Lila, and Bo.
> 
> I'm very glad I got to write this story for you and I hope you enjoy it.

_ Ruth: _

_ I didn’t take the book along when we swung back around to the house.  _

_ The part of me that was so used to running was subsumed by the other part of me that remembered that I had Lila with me now; it was two of us again like it was so briefly long ago. _

_ Bo was probably spinning as much bullshit as she could to buy us a little bit of time so we could get gone. And we couldn’t get gone without clothes and a bit of money. _

_ I have to give it to my mother. When we pulled up to the house, Lila didn’t even hesitate to jump out of the truck and right to her room to pack. That’s Bo’s prep right there. She’s like a combination of Mom and me except she’s thoroughly unafraid of her gift. I could still feel the sky’s energies thrumming though me, like the low rumble of a barn cat. Everything was so raw. Best I could hope for is that would calm down once we were on our way _

_ We were out of the house and on the road in just over half an hour. I left the book right where Bo had hidden it beneath the floorboards in her bedroom Somehow, Bill and his goons missed it when they tore through. It’ll be safer there than the places we’re going. Lila brought a few blank notebooks along, though. Some pencils too. We’re going to write down everything we can. _

_ This is where we begin. Again. _

**

Ruth kept a weather eye on the gas gauge, her brow furrowing as the needle hovered just above the line before the ‘E’. “We seriously need some gas,” she muttered softly. 

“Mmnngh,” was what she heard from Lila, who’d been sleeping with her head pillowed on her jacket in the other corner of the truck cab. She yawned and rubbed a hand across her eyes before she ran a hand over her thick hair then looked over at Ruth. “You drove all night,” she stated.

Ruth nodded, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “I wanted to get as much space between us and Bill as we could.” They were at least a day behind but she didn’t put it past the researcher to keep looking even with Bo giving herself up.

Lila looked out over the landscape, taking in the flat expanse that surrounded them. “Where are we?”

“Maybe an hour or so from the border.” Ruth pulled the road map out from beneath her thigh and handed it to her daughter. “But we’re going to need some gas and I haven’t seen an actual town in a while.”

They drove for another twenty minutes before Lila asked. “How are you feeling?”

Ruth hazarded a look at Lila, whose look was equal parts curious and worried. “I’m...okay. I mean, I feel a little rough around the edges. What do you expect when you rip the sky open?”

Lila thought about that for a moment then hazarded, “The colors?”

“Are you trying to channel Bo?”

Lila giggled. “No. Maybe a little. It’s what she asked me if I was trying to work on something new.” She turned so she could look at Ruth more directly. “So? Can you still see them?”

Ruth licked her lips as she gazed down the highway. “It’s like they’re peeking just out of the corner of my eye. They’re there, y’know? It’s weird. I’ve gone all these years without them and now it’s like they want my attention.”

Lila nodded. “They do feel like that a little for me too. If I’m tired or work at it too hard.” She looked at Ruth from beneath her lashes. “I can help you. If you want.”

Ruth’s lips twitched at the underlying seriousness of Lila’s words. “I’d like that,” she replied. “Right now, though, we seriously need some gas.”

“We passed a sign for some gas a minute ago.”

“What?” Ruth’s head snapped around. “Where?”

Lila shrugged and pointed, “There’s another one.” The sign, straggly and weather-beaten, said, “First and Last Chance Gas.”

“Well,” Ruth said, “That’s oddly appropriate.”

**

The old woman was old and weathered like the landscape surrounding her little trading post. She’d appeared out of the squat building just as they pulled up and parked so they could reach the gas pumps.

“You girls look like you’re in need of a little TLC.” The woman wiped her hands on a rag before shoving it in her back pocket. She took off her battered straw hat, and fanned herself with it. Her snow white hair was pulled back into a messy plait that hung down her back but she stood straight and strong. “Need some gas too.”

“You’re right about the gas at least,” Ruth said. She shut the truck’s door and motioned with her head for Lila to come out of the truck. “Whatever you can spare.” Digging into her pants pocket, she pulled out some bills and held them out. She waved a hand at her.

“Hold on to that.” She looked between the woman and the girl then grinned. “I’m Edna Mae Macauley.”

“Ruth.” Ruth pulled Lila a little closer to her. “This is my daughter, Lila.”

“Nice to meet you. You hungry?”

Lila looked eagerly at Ruth and then at Edna Mae. “Yes, ma’am.” 

“Well, c’mon then.”

They followed carefully as Edna Mae led them around the station to the small house just behind it. “I don’t get too many visitors these days,” the old woman offered. “You’ll have to excuse the mess.”

It wasn’t really a mess; mostly neat piles of ephemera that were a reminder of better days and a better world. They helped Edna Mae move a few piles to the side then took their places around a small table. Their host carefully measured water into a battered tea kettle before putting on the stove. Then she pulled out a loaf of bread and a small crock of butter from her cold box. “It’s not much,” she said. 

“No, no, this is perfect,” Ruth assured her. She cut two thin slices of bread, one for herself and the other for Lila, then spread a thin layer of butter on both. Handing one to Lila, Ruth bit into hers, closing her eyes to savor the rich taste that burst over her tongue.

Edna Mae took a seat, her bright blue eyes roving over the wraps around Ruth’s wrists. “What happened there, honey?” she asked gently.

Lila froze, her eyes darting from Ruth to Edna Mae. Ruth swallowed and put her slice of bread down before putting her hands on the table. “I used to be an addict,” she said slowly, watching her hands as they flexed slowly on the table top, the dirty cloths wrapped around her wrists suddenly feeling like a rebuke. “If I started to have a bad trip, I’d tie myself to my bed so I wouldn’t go wandering.” A halting half truth, half lie seemed to be the better part of valor.

“Mmm..” Edna Mae murmured. She reached out slowly,gazing at Ruth questioningly. “May I?”

Ruth’s breath came in short pants as she beat back a little wave of anxiety. “Okay,” she replied faintly. Edna Mae’s hands were rough but gentle as she took Ruth’s hands and held them in her own. She teased the wraps from her wrists, letting them drop to the table in a grubby pile.

“Lots of pain there,” she said, running her fingertips lightly over Ruth’s wounds. “Carrying so much.”

Ruth felt a sudden thrum in her blood before the colors edged into her vision. Then there was a rush of warmth as those fingers closed around her scabbed over wrists. Warmth shifted to heat and the colors wreathed around them. Ruth felt it surge through her entire body, purging the last of the poison lingering in her veins, knitting together the scabbed over skin.

Ruth breathed, expanded, reached until she could feel Lila as well. 

The sound of thunder rolled into the room breaking her concentration. Her eyes flew open and when she looked down, her wrists were completely healed. Edna Mae was sitting back in her own chair, looking at her speculatively.

“You’re like us,” Lila said reverently. She looked from Ruth to Edna Mae and back.

“She sent us to find Simona,” Ruth said, still staring at the unscarred skin. “She said there were others out there.” 

Edna Mae chuckled. “For what it’s worth, I thought I was the only one like myself.”

“People came after you.” 

“That they did, a long time ago.” She cocked her head at Ruth. “Seems like that might be what’s going on with you if I’m not mistaken. You running?”

“Running and looking. Bo, my mother, she bought us some time but we’re gonna get ourselves lost for as long as we can,” Ruth replied. “I messed up a lot of my life. I can’t let the same happen to Lila.”

Edna Mae nodded. “Ain’t nothing more powerful than that.” She got up again and took the tea kettle off the stove. “Very few people end up this way so I think you’ve got some time. Rest up. I’ll get you fed and maybe we talk some more.”

Lila looked at Ruth. “Can we?”

Ruth smiled tentatively, willing for something to go right for once. “Yeah, we can do that.”

As it turned out, Lila’s spirit was more willing than flesh because not more than twenty minutes after food and some weak tea, she was bedded down in Edna Mae’s bedroom.

Ruth smoothed a threadbare blanket over the sleeping girl, then rested her hand lightly on her shoulder before leaving the room and closing the door. She took her seat back at the table with Edna Mae and rubbed her hands over her thighs. “We’ve been on the road for about a day and a half,” Ruth said. “I was getting pretty worried that we were going to get stuck somewhere.”

Edna Mae nodded. “Happens. Gas was always scarce around these parts even without everything going to hell. Don’t worry, I’ve got more than enough to get you topped off and then some before you move on.”

She cocked her head to the side, gazing at the younger woman. “Come with me.” When Ruth chanced a look back to the bedroom, she added, “She’ll be all right.”

Ruth followed Edna Mae back outside. They put the station to their backs and walked a few steps out into the desert. The sky stretched for miles. Ruth had feared those open vistas for years. With her powers manifesting, the skies held so many more mysteries than she could ever imagine.

Edna Mae stood by her side, her gaze trained on the distant horizon.

“How long have you been out here?” Ruth asked. Her companion rocked on her heels, hands stuck in her pockets as she gave it some thought.

“Going on forty years,” Edna Mae said. “I was looking for a hiding place at first. After a while, I found my peace.”

Wind tickled Ruth’s hair and she breathed in, letting the air fill her before she let it go. The smooth skin of her now healed wrists still tingled from Edna Mae’s touch. “Lila said you were like us, when you healed me. But I think you’re something, someone, else entirely.” 

Edna Mae’s amused snort made Ruth smile. She liked this old woman.

“Way back when I was young like you, I lost my husband. He was a good man. Car accident took him from me. A knock on the noggin gave me this.” She held out her hands, studying them. “I was willing to give what I had, no questions asked. But some people, one person in particular, insisted it was a God-given miracle.”

Ruth could fill in the rest. “No one was willing to consider that a gift like that was just an undiscovered part of mankind.”

Edna Mae shook her head. “It had to be divine. Do I look divine to you?”

“No, Edna Mae, I’m afraid you don’t.” Ruth answered drily. “You didn’t take to being worshiped.”

“Damn straight, I didn’t,” Edna Mae grumbled. “Soon as I could get clear, I came out here. I’d visited before, knew the owner and when he moved on, I took over. Healed when I felt called to, fed some folks.” She winked at Ruth. “Maybe hid a few over the years.”

Ruth bent down and picked up a rock and held it in her hand. She gazed at it for a moment, letting the colors manifest. Slowly, the rock lifted, spun, then broke apart. Edna Mae’s astonished cry nearly undid Ruth’s concentration so she gave a nudge and the rock recomposed before dropping back into her hand. She wiped her hand over her suddenly sweaty forehead. “Okay, that’s still hard for me.”

“You took a rock apart and you call it hard?” Edna Mae said incredulously. 

“Trust me, the fact that I can even do that now is a small victory,” Ruth gave a rueful smile. “Lila is much better at it. All the women in my family stretching back as far as we can remember have this power. We see the colors of matter all around us, we can manipulate it.” She scuffed her foot into the dirt. “Up until a few days ago, I was too messed up to even try again.”

“My gift was fractured. Bo, my mother, she tried to train me when I was but she didn’t understand what was going on and didn’t know what to do. Then the seizures started and with that, earthquakes.”

“That’s a lot.”

That made Ruth laugh. “That’s probably the best response to this whole situation.”

“Government been after you for a minute.” Edna Mae spat. “Ain’t that the way.”

“Yeah. Drinking and drugs helped hold everything back for a while until they didn’t. Bo took Lila when I passed through once. Once I got sober, I came back home to get help. Then everything got crazy.” The words tumbled out. “The men chasing me showed up, I tried running again. This time, though, it was different.”

“Different how?”

Ruth stepped back and rooted herself. She closed her eyes and opened herself to the world. 

Edna Mae looked up as thunderheads rolled into the previously clear sky like they had a few days before. When the rain came, she held open her arms and let it wash over her.

They stood together until they were thoroughly soaked which is when Ruth finally let her hold on the clouds go. She opened her eyes and pushed back her soaking hair. “That was way easier for me to work with than that rock.”

“A few days ago, we got some rain. It’d been so long I almost couldn’t believe it,” Her grin was wide and full of joy. “You’re a goddamn miracle.”

Ruth rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You said this wasn’t a god thing just a few minutes ago.”

“I was talking about me.”

“Mom?”

Ruth and Edna Mae turned to see Lila standing behind them. “That’s going to take some getting used to,” Ruth muttered before clarifying for Edna Mae. “She’s never called me mom before.”

“It’s weird for me too, you know,” Lila shot back. She looked from one woman to the other. “Showing off?”

Ruth chuckled. “Maybe just a little.”

Lila’s nose wrinkled. “You’re weird.”

“That’s the way of the world,” Edna Mae said. “You’ll get used to it.” With that, the trio made their way back into the station where dry clothes awaited. 

**

_ Lila: _

_ Mom. It’s hard for me to call her that. Bo was always Bo and I barely remember life before that. _

_ I was a little jealous to find out that she’d been on the outside. I wanted to see what else was out there. It couldn’t be like this everywhere. Could it? _

_ Those men messed up our house because of what we can do. Who we are. I tried to stop them but they snatched me up. I’m not as strong as I will be one day. Not like Bo. _

_ Not like Ruth...mom. (that feels so weird even when I write it down!!) _

_ Maybe I should be mad or scared because everything is changing all of a sudden. Mostly I’m just sad that we didn’t have time to be a family even for a bit. I mean, the sheriff is my grandpa. I hope I get to see him again one day. _

_ I’m glad we got to meet Edna Mae. She was real nice. And she heals! I wonder how that works. Anyway, she gave us some clothes from her lost and found and her truck. It’s old but better than our old one and another can of gas.  _

_ Me and mom (!), we’re just traveling. She showed me the note Bo gave her; turns out the stories about Simona are true and we’re going to try and find her. Not sure how we’re going to do that or how long it’ll take. I think we’ll figure it out. Bo always said that’s what the women in our family do. _

__ **

She was just finishing up her nightly cigarette when Ellis pulled up in his cruiser. Bo pulled her sweater a little tighter around herself as she pushed herself up from her chair. Ellis got out of the car with a wrapped package in his hand.

“Bo,” he called out. “Got something for you.”

“And here I thought you were just here for some dinner,” Bo quipped. 

Ellis stepped up close. “I’ll take you up on that dinner if you’ll have me.”

One finely arched eyebrow hitched a touch higher at Ellis’ weak attempt at game then Bo said, “Well, c’mon then.” 

They stepped into the house and Ellis thrust the package into her hands. “This was delivered to my office today.” His hazel eyes met hers. “There’s no return address.”

Bo blinked as she took the package, the brown kraft paper rough beneath her fingers. The postmark read, “Los Angeles, California.” 

“I don’t know anyone out there,” she said quietly. 

“Do you...do you think it’s from Ruth?” Ellis asked. It had been months since she and Lila had taken off and both he and Bo maintained a low key worry about them. She still had her hands full of dealing with the government and Ellis had his hands full making sure that said government didn’t make off with Bo. Along the way, the pair of them leaned on each other, slowly relearning the steps of the dance that brought them together in the first place.

She grasped Ellis’ hand and led him into the kitchen. They both took a seat then Bo unwrapped the package, revealing a lightly worn composition notebook and a note. Bo opened the note and read,

_ Bo, _

_ Just wanted to let you know that both Lila and I are okay. We’ve found a way to leave the country. It’ll take a while. Planes are out of the question but we’ve secured a different means of transportation. We did some digging around and it’s probably safe to assume that Simona is actually in Italy. That’s where we’re headed. Lila says hello and she misses you. I miss you. I’m sending this notebook to you so you can add it to the book. And Bo? You said there were others. We found someone. She’s sort of like us but she’s also different. We had her add to the book. Maybe you can get in touch with her sometime. _

_ Take care. Say hi to Ellis for us. _

_ Love, Ruth _ .

“Book?” Ellis asked as Bo opened up the notebook and began to scan it’s pages.

“Family history,” Bo said faintly. She looked up at him and smiled. “I can show it to you if you like.”

He nodded and smiled. “I’d like that.” He reached out and placed his hand on top of hers.

**

_ Edna Mae:  _

_ I was sitting on my porch when the clouds came rolling in like they had someplace they were supposed to be; thick, heavy, and rumbling something fierce. And then the rains followed. _

_ Just a few drops plinking on the roof. Been so long since I’d heard or seen water falling from the sky that I thought I’d finally gone crazy. By the time I got my old ass out of the house and onto the porch, it was coming down in buckets. Soaking everything around me, air crackling like it was alive. _

_ I know the world’s slowed down. Live in the desert long enough, you notice the smallest changes. For a long time the only people coming my way were going places where they believed it would be better. After a while even they stopped passing through So much else was going wrong that this would be the last place they thought of. There’s talk that the world’s dying. Maybe it is but aren’t we all dying a little every day? _

_ My touch heals but even that slumbered when the rain stopped coming and water got scarce. The hardest part? The animals. I don’t know how many died or if they moved on to wherever it is that the beasts that fly, slither, and slink go. I figured maybe them that sleep below ground decided to stay there until better times. Like desert plants that stay folded up until just the right moment and then they burst open with all the colors you can imagine. A superbloom. _

_ Ruth and Lila are like that. Unexpected until they burst into your life like those flowers.. Meeting them made me remember that there’s always something out there that’s brand new. _

_ They asked me to write in their notebook. Nothing fancy.  _ _ I wish we’d had more time to talk but they’ve got some folks who want to know more about them and not in a good way. I know all about that. That’s what made me move out in the middle of nowhere. People get a little funny in the head when facing something they don’t understand. I got those girls gassed up and sent them on their way. Even gave my address to Lila. She said that if they had the chance, they’d try to write and let me know how they’re doing. Might be a while but that’s okay. I’m going to stick around as long as I can.  _

_ I’ve set my address down here in case you ever find yourself in a mind to write.  _

_ Best regards, _

_ Edna Mae Macauley  
_

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
